Recession to stunt mobile entertainment revenue growth

Mobile entertainment revenues will fall significantly below previous projections if the global recession fails to hit bottom in the next 12 months, according to a new report issued by market research firm Juniper Research. While Juniper previously forecast the mobile entertainment market to reach nearly $36 billion in revenue in 2010, the firm now says average annual growth over the next two years will decline from nearly 19 percent under the best-case economic scenario to less than 7 percent in the worst case, with mobile TV, user-generated content and music facing the steepest dropoff.

Juniper cites reduced discretionary spending on services and handsets as major factors contributing to declining entertainment service revenues, although the report also points to the absence of financing for developing new applications and an accelerated migration to ad-subsidized services. Growth in service deployment and adoption also remains limited by excessive data charges in many international markets.

"Some entertainment services appear to be highly susceptible to the downturn," said Juniper report author Dr. Windsor Holden in a prepared statement. "Furthermore, given that operators will perceive that consumers will be increasingly reluctant--or unable--to purchase content, they may in turn be less likely to roll out expensive, higher risk services: a dedicated mobile broadcast TV network is a prime example." Juniper adds that under all doomsday scenarios, mobile music will remain the largest single mobile entertainment sector, even with the continuing decline ringtone revenues.

For more on the Juniper forecast:
- read this release

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